ISSN 2321-1091 Volume 11 Number 1 JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 2313 | Page March, 2017 DEVELOPING GOOD MORAL SEXUAL BEHAVIOURS AMONG UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATES IN NIGERIA: THE ROLE OF RELIGION By Dr. (Mrs.) Osalusi, F. M. E-mail: osalusiflo2009@gmail.com Department of Social Science Education, Faculty of Education, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti. Nigeria. & Dr. Alonge, R. A. Department of Social Science Education, Faculty of Education, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti. Nigeria. ABSTRACT This paper examined the role of religion in the development of good moral sexual behaviours among University Undergraduates. In Nigeria, sex issues are considered as sacred and usually attached with a myth, however, observations have shown in recent times that these good virtues have been eroded among university undergraduates in Southwest, Nigeria. These category of students now exhibit unwholesome sexual behaviours such as lesbianism, homosexuality, adultery, indecent dressing, masturbation among others and this is considered a serious threat to national development. Therefore, to address this issue, a descriptive research of the survey type was adopted for the study while three hypotheses were tested. The population consisted of all unmarried undergraduates in all the universities in the Southwest geo- political zone of Nigeria. A sample of 1581 respondents which was made up of 750 males and 831 female were selected employing multistage sampling procedure. A simple random sampling technique was used to select three states out of six states in the Southwest, Nigeria. Two universities each were selected through stratified random sampling from Federal, State and Private universities, while 265 students were also selected from each of the universities making a total of 1590. However, 9 students did not filled the questionnaire properly and were therefore rejected remaining 1581 as sample. A self-designed questionnaire titled: ‘Good Moral Sexual Behaviours’ (GMSB) was used to collect data. The instrument is a 25-items four point- Liker type questionnaire. The findings revealed that religious inclination significantly influenced University undergraduates’ values and moral sexual behaviours. The study recommended among others that religious organisations should be encouraged to intensify their sermons on acceptable values in terms of moral sexual behaviours to members of their society. University authorities were also advised to come up with appropriate policies to curb the acts of indecent and seductive dressing patterns common among university undergraduates. Keywords Good moral, Sexual Behaviours, Undergraduates, Religious Inclination. INTRODUCTION In Nigeria, and particularly in Western region of the country, sex issues are generally believed to be sacred and attached with myth to enforce their secrecy while compliance is binding on all members of the society. However, it is observed that this belief is no longer respected by the youths these days. A lot of sexual immoral behaviours such as lesbianism, homosexuality, masturbation, adultery, indecent dressing among others are now common among the youths most especially University undergraduates. Religious affiliation is believed to be an agent of socialization that are employed to mould the thoughts and behaviours of followers. How people interact with the world and what they cherished are often largely influenced by the faith in which they were raised. Henslin, Glendey. Dufty and Norene (2004) noted that religion plays a significant role in the socialization of people of a society. They believe that religion influences morality which becomes a key component in people’s ideas of right or wrong. Okon (2012) observed that it is through socialisation that the child is integrated into the meaningful structure of the society. Life has to be meaningful, and as a process of initiation into the larger society, religion is a veritable pivot of socialisation. In this case, parental faith or religion automatically becomes the faith of the children. Religious affiliation or preference has frequently been noted as a significant predictor of premarital sexuality. Furthermore, it is also observed that religion is an influencing factor in shaping behaviours. For example, it serves as an agent of moral institution that plays a vital role in the moral uprightness of individuals. Every religion has a code of conduct or a set of values that adherents are expected to observe. Suffice it to say that, the lifestyle of a member of a religious group is expected to be a reflection of the values cherished by the group. Therefore, every religion places emphasis on worthy virtues while bad habits are usually frowned at and discouraged. However, Wodi and Dokubo (2004) discovered in their study that students’ religious beliefs do not influence their values especially when it concerns social issues. They opined that religious affiliations are mere pass time, as they seem not to influence students’ behaviour s. Wilson (2004) observed that it was compassion and empathy and not religion that is the ‘driving force’ for good and de cent moral values. He stressed further by giving a statistical proof that the United States is the most religious of all the industrialised nations. According to Wilson (2004), 44% of Americans attend church once a week compared with 27% in France, 16% in Australia and 4% in Sweden. Yet, violent crimes/social problems are not less common in the United States. He also stated